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NXT Women’s Championship History

It’s no secret that the NXT women’s division is something special. These are the women that have ascended to the top of it.

1. Paige (July 24 2013 – April 24 2014)

The first-ever NXT Women’s Champion? Who else but the Anti-Diva, Paige. The Brit was entered into the tournament to crown the inaugural champion and she seen off Tamina Snuka and Alicia Fox to qualify for the final. She defeated fellow NXT standout Emma with the Paige Turner to seal her place in history. Not bad for a 20-year-old.

Things got even better for Paige when she stunned AJ Lee and the world by winning the WWE Divas Championship on her Raw debut, the night after Wrestlemania 30. After holding both titles concurrently for a few weeks, then NXT GM JBL stripped her of the Women’s Championship on April 24 2014 when he decided she would be unable to defend both titles.

Paige went on to become a two-time Divas Champion, before her private life became wrestling’s biggest soap opera.

The newly-vacated NXT Women’s Championship was up for grabs and another tournament was held to crown the next champion. Charlotte defeated Emma and Alexa Bliss to set up a showdown with Natalya at NXT Takeover. In arguably one of the best WWE women’s matches ever, Charlotte pinned the veteran after hitting Natural Selection.

During her dominant reign, Charlotte fought and defeated the best NXT had to offer in some stellar matches.

She was finally called up to the main roster as part of the much-vaunted Divas Revolution in July 2015, when she and Becky Lynch debuted on Raw and aligned themselves with Paige to form Team PCB.

Charlotte won the Divas Championship at Night of Champions 2015 when she made Nikki Bella tap out to the Figure-8 to end her record-breaking reign. Charlotte made history at Wrestlemania 32 when she defeated Becky & Sasha to trade in her Divas Championship for the newly-created WWE Women’s Championship. Her status saw her drafted to Raw as their #2 pick, where she traded the Raw Women’s Championship with Sasha a few times before moving to Smackdown.

After coming up short in three title matches, Sasha Banks got another chance along with Bayley and Becky Lynch in a Fatal-4-Way at Takeover: Rival. In a fine match, Sasha locked Charlotte in the Bank Statement and rolled her into a crucifix pin to deservedly become the NXT Women’s Champion.

Sasha debuted on Raw in July 2015, on the same night as Becky Lynch and Charlotte, but she aligned with Naomi and Tamina Snuka to form Team BAD. Beautiful and Dangerous. She found more success going it alone and finally won the Raw Women’s Championship in July 2016, once again taking it from Charlotte, then lost it, then won it back, etc.

After recovering from a broken hand, Bayley made it her mission to win the NXT Women’s Championship, but she had to do it the hard way. She needed to beat some familiar faces from her past. She beat Emma and requested a match with old friend/adversary Charlotte, which she also won. Her reward was a #1 Contender match against Becky Lynch. In a hard-fought match, Bayley emerged victorious thanks to an opportunistic roll-up. She had her title match.

She faced off with her oldest of rivals, Sasha Banks, at Takeover Brooklyn. In an epic match, Bayley fulfilled her dream and pinned The Boss after a Poisoned Rana and a Belly-to-Bayley.

Her impressive reign was ended by Asuka and after she failed to regain the title at the site of her greatest triumph, Bayley was handed a spot in the Raw women’s division. She would defeat Charlotte to win the Raw Women’s Championship and defended the title at Wrestlemania 33.

In October 2015, Japanese superstar Asuka debuted by destroying Dana Brooke. Six months and no defeats later, she was facing Bayley for the NXT Women’s Championship. At Takeover Dallas, Asuka was taken all the way by the champion, but there was no escape for Bayley once she found herself trapped in the Asuka Lock. Bayley passed out and Asuka became the new champion.

Asuka remains undefeated since her debut. Her dominance has seen her become the longest reigning champion in NXT history. Her defense against Ember Moon at Takeover Orlando meant she completed a full year as champion and, in the process, becoming the first woman to hold the brand new Championship belt.